What they didn't write in Marlene's Obituary
by blinkblink
Summary: A story in which Allen is the direct cause of Marlene's death. And when we say direct, we mean it. Written for fun, no hard feelings against Allen.


**What They Didn't Write in Marlene's Obituary**   
_an _Escaflowne_ fic by *blinkblink*_

**Disclaimer:** _Escaflowne_ is ©opyright Sunrise, TV Tokyo/Bandai Entertainment, Inc. 

  
Allen pushed his short bangs out of his eyes in an irritated gesture, the sweat on his face sticking them where he had pushed them, making the blond strands stand up on end. He didn't see why Marlene had made him cut it. It wasn't his fault that it got stuck in her corsets. Oh no, that was all _her_ fault. Annoyed by the memory of his heroic sacrifice he slammed his sword down hard, stopping it just before it would have hit the hard marble floor of the Asturian Palace roof. Marlene would _kill_ him if he scratched it. 

A patter on the floor behind him caused the tall knight Caeli to sweep around, sword outstretched, coming to stop in front of a thin neck covered from the middle down by wealthily patterned lace, embedded with small jewels. Raising his gaze slightly Allen met the cold purple eyes of Princess Marlene, the eldest princess of Asturia. And she was not happy. 

"Allen-san, _what_ have I told you about sword practicing on the roof? If father finds you here, he'll have you beheaded. Besides, I have something to tell you. Come with me." 

Marlene grabbed the gloved hand - the one _without_ a sword in it - and led him down the stone stairwell to her room, the one particular room in the palace that Allen had been in more times than he could count (and he had gone to school). When she turned around to face him in the safety of her room, Allen could see her eyes were tearing up. 

"Allen-san, Father has betrothed me to Freid. I have to go and marry their duke, no questions asked. I can't get out of it. I have to leave you, forever, and be some fat duke's wife. Father didn't change his mind, even when Millerna cried, and you _know_ that she's his favorite. It's horrible! I'll never see you again, and I think, I think - " Here she broke off, sobbing, and as such did not finish her sentence. Allen let her cry on him, standing awkwardly and stiffly as she soaked his blue vest with her tears. When she had finished he looked down on her. 

"You're being sent away, to marry someone else? Marlene-hime, you promised that we would find a way, you promised. You can't marry, I've . . . soiled you." 

A fresh array of sobs, an "I know" making its way out occasionally. Finally she seemed to come to her senses, and realize that she was standing in her room - with her door open, for that matter - crying on a knight of the realm. Pushing him away from her she staggered to her bed. 

"Get out, Allen-san. Just go. It's too late, being here will only hurt me more. I can never see you again, _I never want to see you again_." Marlene motioned towards the door with one hand, burying her face in the crook of her other elbow. Allen sheathed his sword loudly and stomped over to the door, walking through it and slamming it so that the whole frame shook. Marlene started sobbing again. 

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_Seven months later, in Asturia._

Allen sat at a table close to King Grava, close enough to guard him but not to appear as if he was in any way affiliated with him. This was a foolish idea, obviously, since his uniform made him stand out like sore thumb, but sitting there gave him the ability to listen to the king's conversations without seeming to. 

"And they all say that she's taken to him wonderfully, now that she's carrying his child. I guess that can do it for women, they're so simple-minded. But now that she's settled down and accepted him there's nothing to worry about, the duke is very satisfied with her. And, in the end, that's really all that matters." 

Allen crushed a thin gold cup in his hand and rose quietly, leaving the room without a trace. In the hall he ran into Eries-hime, who smiled at him and giggled rather prettily - or as close as she could come - but Allen took no notice of her and stalked out into the streets. 

Two months later he heard that a baby boy had been born to the duke of Freid, a small child with his mother's blond hair and blue eyes. Only Allen Schezar had ever noticed that Marlene's eyes were purple. 

He heard, over the next three years, various pieces of information as pertaining to the duchess and prince (how does that work?) of Freid. The boy was growing fast, his blond hair and blue eyes exactly like his mother's (Allen laughed inwardly). He had been Christened Chid zar Freid, on that night Allen had gone out and nearly drowned himself in a lake (by accident, he supposed) while drunk. As the child grew tales of his intelligence and goodwill spread, as did the tales of his parent's fondness for him, and that Marlene spared no opportunity to remark how like his father he was. 

On the child's third birthday Allen, who had gone to Freid with the King and both his daughters (Eries-hime was still smiling at him, and now Millerna-hime would follow him wherever he went) on their trip to attend the Prince's birthday party, was shocked and angered to hear that the boy (he had not been present for the ceremony, it was limited to family) had constantly thanked and praised his father, to the point where some wondered if he was trying to make amends for some rift he might have caused. Allen had again stalked out of the palace (once Millerna-hime was asleep, or else she would have surely followed) and stopped in a small apothecary. What he bought there was never discovered, as the owner was killed a few days later in a street fight. 

A few weeks later Marlene's health began to deteriorate rapidly. She was confined to her bed, and died shortly after. Allen learned that she had died professing her love to the duke. None heard from him for a few weeks, although Eries-hime had, in that time period, an accident and was found screaming in her room with the tops of her ears ripped and bloodied. She passed out and claimed ignorance as to how the event had happened; she said she had been sleeping and woke with the pain, and when she looked around there was no one there. King Grava did not seem to believe her, but she was left alone. A week later Allen Schezar turned up, weak and slightly ill, claiming to have caught some sickness in Freid that had confined him to his house for two weeks, and thus explained his disappearance. For not notifying anyone of his illness he was sent to the swamps on the Fanelian/Asturian border (much to Millerna-hime's horror, although Eries-hime did not seem to mind as much as had been expected). Another few weeks later Eries-hime was quietly cut out of the line of succession - King Grava claimed that she was in love with Allen Schezar, a rather ludicrous claim but since Eries-hime didn't deny it it passed - and Millerna-hime was made the heiress for Asturia. 

Millerna-hime waited expectantly for letters or reports from Allen Schezar, and asked her father often what had become of him and when he would be recalled. 

Eries-hime spent a lot of time alone, although for a while she had written letters to Allen Schezar, sending with one something she had picked up from the apothecary in Palas. After that letter, and the one she received in return, she never sent him another, and ignored everyone for a month. 

Prince Chid zar Freid grew up constantly praising his father, and being told how much he looked like his mother, whom his missed very much but could not remember. 

And Allen Schezar, disgraced Knight Caeli, lived in the swamps on the Fanelian/Asturian border with a motley bunch of rebels and was not surprised to hear when, occasionally, a man fell sick and died slowly, that none could find a cause of death. 

  


Fan Fiction · GiaE 


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